ALTHOUGH the South African Football Association (Safa) has confirmed that the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) will start working in the next season of 2026/2027 in the Betway Premiership matches, but the referees are rejecting it to be ready for the start of the operation of this system.
The chairman of the finance committee in Safa, Mxolisi Sibam, confirmed in a press conference at the weekend, that they have received R20 million from the Ministry of Sports, Arts and Culture led by the Minister, Gayton McKenzie, to start the operation of VAR in Premiership games. Last year, McKenzie revealed that everything is in Safa’s hands.
According to Sibam, Safa will work with the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to introduce this VAR technology system, which they plan to start working next season.
“The government has given us R20 million to start the VAR program. The money is in the bank and I can assure you that it is in a separate account that is not connected to the others used by Safa. We will have to follow all the terms and conditions of Safa and the government,” said Sibam.
“South Africa is the best on the African continent so we don’t want to lag behind when it comes to VAR. There are already four countries here in Africa that have started using VAR, so we don’t want to be left behind. We are committed to ensuring that VAR becomes a reality in this country.”
As it happens, South African football fans and coaches have been complaining about the introduction of VAR for some time because of refereeing decisions that hit the noses in other Premiership games.
One of the seasoned referees who is just an earOf this country with this VAR system which is reported to start next season, to match the boldness that Safa said about the start of this VAR system next season.
“It is a mistake that they (Safa and PSL) are ready for the start of VAR. Maybe they should have said that they are ready to start teaching the referees about the operation of VAR, not that the referees are ready for VAR.
Only seven PSL referees are still trained to use VAR.
There are many who still need to be trained in this program so it will take some time.
It takes six months to train referees with VAR knowledge,” said the referee who will not be revealed.
The referee went on to say that one of the problems that will be caused by the introduction of VAR is that the teams playing in the Premiership do not have their own stadiums as they are managed by the municipalities.
“The stadiums are used for different events, sometimes music festivals and events of political parties and others. VAR cameras can therefore be at risk of vandalism, as they are expensive to install in stadiums. So it will not be an easy thing to quickly start the operation of the VAR system in South Africa as envisaged.”
Safa head referee Abdul Ebrahim has recently been quoted as confirming the introduction of VAR at the start of the 2026/2027 season.
Referees trained in VAR include Abongile Tom, Zakhele Siwela, Akhona Makalima, Jelly Chavani, Eugene Mdluli and Luxolo Badi.